Preview: Dick Stanley, “Knoxville 1863”

1062010

Dick Stanley of Austin, TX sent me a copy of his new book, Knoxville 1863, a novel about, well, Knoxville in 1863. (For you folks who have wholeheartedly entered the 21st century, this is also available as an ebook.) I’ve only skimmed the book, but this fictional account of the seige of Knoxville and the battle at Ft. Sanders seems to focus primarily on the 79th NY (the Highlanders) and Barksdale’s Mississippi brigade. Stanley’s narrator is a Knoxville resident, the widow of a Confederate officer, through whose eyes and recollections the reader is brought up to speed on the war and Tennessee up to the point of the Confederate encirclement of the city and beyond. From the back cover:

Gettysburg held. Vicksburg has fallen. Now rebel flags ring Knoxville in East Tennessee. Longstreet means to wrench this railroad hub away from the occupying Union army.

To do it his ragged and starving men, veterans of Gettysburg such as Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade, must climb the icy, clay walls of Fort Sanders.

Inside are the New York Cameron Highlanders who are on half-rations and have never won a battle. Yet they have special faith in the young lieutenant who leads them.

In Washington President Lincoln waits for news. He sees the struggle as one more key to preserving the Union, freeing the slaves, and victory in the Civil War.

5 responses

So no potential reader gets the wrong idea from the start, the widow is one of six narrators in a mosaic narrative of the battle, similar to the method Foote chose to tell his battle novel “Shiloh.” The widow and one other narrator reappear elsewhere in the story and all six of them return in segments in the final chapter.

The narrators’ units, in addition to Barksdale’s and the Highlanders are with Parker’s “Boy Battery” of the Sixth Virginia Light Artillery, the Phillips Georgia Legion, and the Twenty-Ninth Massachusetts Infantry Regt.

Sorry about that, Dick. I skimmed the first 20 or so pages, then picked a bit in the middle which byu chance seemed at least to be written in the voice of the same character. But I think the main points got covered, and it looks like you sold at least one ebook!

Don’t recall the story of the 79th NY’s “young lieutenant who leads them” at Ft. Sanders. Doesn’t sound kosher to me, on its face, but I admit I’m rusty on the details of the regiment’s involvement at Knoxville.

The “young lieutenant who leads them” is one of those cover statements that aren’t intended to mislead but sometimes do. It refers to the commander of the fort, Samuel Nicoll Benjamin, Battery E, 2nd US Artillery.

Harry,

Fiction is hard enough for an author to summarize, let alone a previewer. ;-)

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“I am sending you these little incidents as I hear them well authenticated. They form, to the friends of the parties, part of the history of the glorious 21st. More anon.”

About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings, where you'll find my digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run which is organized under the Bull Run Resources section. I'll also post my thoughts on the processes behind the project and commentary on the campaign, but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You'll only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

The Project

This site is more than a blog. Bull Runnings also hosts digitized material pertaining to First Bull Run. In the Bull Run Resources link in the masthead and also listed below are links to Orders of Battle, After Action Reports, Official Correspondence, Biographical Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Newspaper Accounts and much, much more. Take some time to surf through the material. This is a work in process with no end in sight, so check back often!